Wanted: A Few Good Salespeople

Solution providers that work primarily in SMB accounts are not only talking a good game about future sales, they also are putting their money where their mouths are in order to get there.

Recent research finds that 62 percent of solution providers surveyed by CRN plan to hire new personnel within the next six months. The survey also reveals that salespeople are a growing priority for these solution providers when it comes to bringing new people on board.

With businesses still keeping a close eye on technology spending, the art of selling is more important than ever. But this art has been largely lost, according to solution providers like Pete Busam, vice president and COO at Decisive Business Systems in Pennsauken, N.J.

Tip-top sales techniques weren't needed much during the heady days of the 1990s, when technology virtually sold itself. As a result, many solution providers aren't well-equipped to make the sale at a time when the sales process has become tougher, Busam said.

This is one area where vendors can help both themselves and their solution provider partners--not in providing sales leads, but in providing meaningful sales certifications. Data from CRN's 2004 Certification Study, to be released Aug. 30, show that sales-related certifications are becoming increasingly important to the solution-provider business model. Many vendors already offer sales-related certifications; broadening the scope of those certifications and toughening the requirements to earn them would serve to improve their value to partners.

This help keeps certification dollars flowing to vendors. And it would help them counter the rise of vendor-neutral certifications, which are rapidly moving to the fore of the certification model but aren't as easy to orient toward sales when compared with vendor-specific certifications.

How's your sales savvy? Let me know via phone at (732) 919-1530 or e-mail at [email protected].